Posts by Dr. Sandra E. Cohen
JOKER
Smile Though Your
Heart Is Breaking
& Hate In A Traumatized Boy
Arthur Fleck is Joker. That’s the name of Todd Phillips’s 2019 film and Joaquin Phoenix’s well-deserved Best Actor Oscar-winning character. Arthur must be a Joker, a self-made stand-up comedian. He must laugh, though his heart is breaking. And, being a comedian is the best way to keep laughing. Isn’t that right …? No, he’s not…
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1917
The Trauma Of War
How Love & Friendship Matter
We see the trauma. And, we witness the friendship and love. I’m talking about Sam Mendes’s more-than-war film, 1917. I’m also talking about a different kind of war that all of us are fighting now. A war with an invisible virus. COVID-19. And, just as in 1917, it’s love for each other; our fellow warriors…
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JOJO RABBIT
Why A Boy Needs Adolf Hitler
As His Imaginary Friend
When you’re a scared little boy in the middle of a war and your father’s missing, Adolf Hitler can become your best friend. That is, in your mind at least. And, why not? He’s the man with the most power in all of Germany. What better friend to help you stand up to your fears?…
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THE IRISHMAN
What Makes A Man Not Feel?
Does Frank Sheeran really have no conscience? How can a man kill with no compunction – and not feel anything? In Martin Scorsese’s engagingly (and not too long), fictionalized film, The Irishman, we watch Frank as he moves up the ladder of The International Brotherhood of Teamsters. With just a little help from his friends.…
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ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD
Killer Voices In Your Head…
Quentin Tarantino, in his brilliantly conceived and “executed” Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, has turned the tides on one of the most horrific events in Hollywood history. The Manson family murders of Sharon Tate, her unborn baby, and her friends, on a night that robbed them of their futures. Yet, what interests me most…
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PARASITE
Hunger & Humiliation Gone Wild
Hunger can lead to desperate acts. And, it does – in Bong Joon-Ho’s startling new film, Parasite. Plus, we find. if you’re hungry and helpless (emotionally, that is), you can even become a parasite. The kind of hunger we witness in many of Parasite’s characters leads to various forms of exploitation – of the class…
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